Hi, it's me again! So, um... I've been a fan of Ironman/ the avengers for like ever, but this i the first fic I've written for them. Let me know what you think and maybe I'll write some more one day! I'm dedicating this one to tataalicat- the biggest RDJ fan I know.

Note: I realize that the characters are slightly OOC, but it's the only way I could make the plotline work with me so just bear with me, yeah?

In the Middle of the Night

Images flashed behind his eyes. They were too close, too realistic to be anything but another memory haunting him while he slept. During the day, when he had Pepper and the company and interviews to keep him busy, he was almost able to forget about everything that had happened... Pretend like it was all nothing but a nightmare.

But at night, after lying awake for hours before finally falling asleep, the all-too real sound of explosions and screams reminded him day after day that it had all really happened. Usually when the memories started flooding into his mind, he was able to wake up and stop them from freaking him out too much. But tonight was a different story. Maybe it was because he was in shock after his surgery. Maybe because the drugs in his system hadn't fully worn off yet. Or maybe it was just... because.

Whatever the reason, he couldn't escape it this time like he could any other night. The images kept coming; the sounds of screams and explosions being the only thing was able to here. Terror was the only thing he was able to feel. Terror and heartbreak whenever he thought that he had lost Pepper fro good. He couldn't pull himself out of the dream, and though he was getting lost further and further with in the memories he tried to forget, he could still feel himself.

And right now, he could feel his lungs tightening every time he took a breath, and his head swimming with darkness.

"Tony.. Tony, wake up!" he could hear a familiar voice nearby, though it was muffled and he couldn't place it. He tried to open his eyes, but the memories still clouded his vision as though he were strapped to a chair and being forced to watch a movie he didn't want to see.

Eventually, though, he didn't know how, his eyes snapped open. He shot straight up into a sitting position and gasped for air. He felt cool hands grasping his shoulders lightly and jerked violently away until he realized they belonged to Pepper. Pepper was an ally. She was good. She wouldn't hurt him.

The thought calmed him slightly and his breathing evened just a bit more. His stomach still felt as though there were a boulder sitting within it, and his vision was swimming in and out of focus, but he was fine... he would be fine.

Again, he felt Pepper's cool hands but this time he was expecting it and though he didn't flinch away this time, he couldn't stop his body from tensing at her touch. "It's okay." she whispered in a voice that could only be described as maternal. Caring. Soft. Compassionate. Calming.

He forced his breathing to even out and only when he felt a cool cloth being pressed against his forehead did he realize he'd been sweating. Pepper had abandoned the cushioned chair next to the hospital bed in favor of sitting right next to him.

"You're okay now; it was just a bad dream." he didn't reply. How could he confess to her that it wasn't a dream? How could he tell her the reason for his panicked state was partly because the thought of losing her forever still scared the shit out of him? He didn't want her to worry about him more than she already did. She had her own scars from the incidents, after all...She didn't need to be bothered with his, too.

After his breathing, temperature and pulse were all back to normal, he finally allowed himself to look at her. This woman, without whom he would no doubt be nothing, was still here. She was sitting next to him. Alive and breathing. He stared into her eyes and brought a slightly shaky hand to rest lightly on her cheek. He needed to feel the heat of her skin. To know that the blood beneath it was really flowing. To be reassured that this wasn't all just another dream.

In the dim lightly of the room, he saw the corner of her lips twitch up ever so slightly, as though she knew what he was doing. He brought their foreheads together and looked at her through his eyelashes, moving his hand from her cheek to the back of her neck.

"I love you." he whispered, needing to say the words aloud. "You know that, don't you?"

Again, she smiled slightly. "I do. And I love you too."

He pulled her into him and captured her lips in a slow, soft kiss putting in every word he couldn't speak aloud; Every feeling he couldn't find a name for. The kiss could have lasted seconds, minutes or hours. He didn't know and he didn't care. She was here. She was alive. And she was his. That's all that mattered right now, and all that would ever matter again.